Job 12:2–25

²“No doubt you are the people,

and wisdom will die with you.

³But I have ^bunderstanding as well as you;

I am not inferior to you.

Who does not know ^csuch things as these?

⁴I am ^da laughingstock to my friends;

I, who ^ecalled to God and he answered me,

a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.

⁵In the thought of one who is ^fat ease there is contempt for misfortune;

it is ready for those whose feet slip.

^6gThe tents of robbers are at peace,

and those who provoke God are secure,

who bring their god in their hand.¹

⁷“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;

the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

⁸or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;²

and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

⁹Who among all these does not know

that ^hthe hand of the Lord has done this?

¹⁰In ⁱhis hand is the life of every living thing

and the breath of all mankind.

¹¹Does not ^jthe ear test words

as the palate tastes food?

¹²Wisdom is with ^kthe aged,

and understanding in length of days.

^13l“With God³ are wisdom and might;

he has counsel and understanding.

¹⁴If he tears down, none can rebuild;

if he ^mshuts a man in, none can open.

¹⁵If he ⁿwithholds the waters, they dry up;

if he ^osends them out, they overwhelm the land.

¹⁶With him are strength and ^psound wisdom;

the deceived and the deceiver are his.

¹⁷He leads ^qcounselors away stripped,

and ^rjudges he makes fools.

¹⁸He ^slooses the bonds of kings

and binds a waistcloth on their hips.

¹⁹He leads priests away stripped

and overthrows the mighty.

²⁰He deprives of speech those who are trusted

^tand takes away the discernment of the elders.

²¹He ^upours contempt on princes

and loosens the belt of the strong.

²²He ^vuncovers the deeps out of darkness

and brings ^wdeep darkness to light.

²³He ^xmakes nations great, and he destroys them;

he enlarges nations, and ^yleads them away.

²⁴He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth

and ^zmakes them wander in a trackless waste.

²⁵They ^agrope in the dark without light,

and he makes them ^bstagger like a drunken man.